WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office has filed murder charges against a man accused of raping a 100-year-old woman, who died three weeks after the alleged attack.

The district attorney’s office said Tuesday that 36-year-old Kasey Nesbitt has been charged with first-degree felony murder, rape and aggravated burglary. Nesbitt’s preliminary hearing is set for Thursday.

He’s accused of raping the woman on Sept. 30, 2014. The woman died Oct. 21, 2014. Nesbitt had been charged earlier with rape and aggravated burglary.

District Attorney Marc Bennett says his office sought a new preliminary hearing after receiving the autopsy report in mid-May. Bennett say the autopsy report classified the woman’s death from a blood clot as a homicide.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), speaking at a Senate Finance Committee hearing today, said that the recent security breach at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is “so deeply alarming” and that “we urgently need to understand what happened, and how IRS walls were breached.”

“Clearly, there is a war going on. On one side we have the government, taxpayers, and business. And on the other, hackers and criminals, organized syndicates and lone wolves. Perhaps even national governments,” said Roberts. “Right now, it looks like we are losing this war, and so we need to use this latest breach to consider how we can regroup to win this fight, because it is a fight — it is a war.”

The hearing, with witnesses IRS Commissioner John Koskinen and IRS Inspector General Russell George, was designed to examine how the recent data breach at the IRS exposed the personal information of more than 100,000 taxpayers.

Watch Roberts’ full statement 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A 41-year-old Wichita man with a long history of sex crimes has been given eight life sentences without the possibility of parole for sexually assaulting three underage girls.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett says Terrill Andrews was sentenced Tuesday on three counts of rape, three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

District Court Judge Jeffrey Goering ordered two of the life sentences to run consecutively.

Bennett says Andrews was a registered sex offender in 2013 when he sexually assaulted three girls ages 13, 14 and 16, including two who were runaways from a Wichita halfway house.

Andrews previously was convicted of sexual intercourse with a minor in California and court-martialed in the Navy for rape and sodomy.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Some GOP state senators say they would consider taking an unpaid break after failing to agree on tax proposals after days of debates.

Republican Sen. Les Donovan of Wichita said Tuesday during a meeting of GOP senators that he was interested in adjourning for about a week. Donovan said the move might raise pressure on Gov. Sam Brownback and allow legislators to come back more ready to compromise.

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce said the idea is viable, but the Nickerson Republican wanted to conduct a debate on a stripped-down tax initiative Tuesday afternoon first.

Administration officials have said that all non-essential state workers would be furloughed if a budget deal is not reached by June 7. Furloughs could be avoided if a short-term budget were to pass.

ROSE HILL- A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just before 1 p.m. on Tuesday in Butler County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Chrysler Sebring driven by Deanna M. Delanty, 74, Derby, was traveling on Southwest 210th at Butler Road three miles south of Rose Hill and failed to yield at a stop sign.

The vehicle pulled out in front of and was hit by a 2011 Toyota Tundra driven by Kimberly L. Freeman-Stover,

Delanty was transported to Wesley Medical Center. Freeman-Stover was not seriously injured.

Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident according to the KHP.

TOPEKA  Legislation approved Monday by the Legislature will strengthen support for some victims of human trafficking, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt reported in a media release.

Schmidt praised legislators of both political parties for their unanimous show of support for human trafficking victims. The bill passed the House of Representatives 111- 0 and the Senate 37- 0.

“Kansas has made tremendous strides in its commitment to combat human trafficking,” Schmidt said. “Just a decade ago, our state did not even have an anti-trafficking law. Today, we have one of the strongest laws in the country, and this new legislation will further strengthen it.”

The new legislation allows human trafficking victims to file civil actions against traffickers to seek damages for personal and psychological injury. In addition, the bill requires a sentencing court to order a person convicted of human trafficking to pay restitution to the victim. If the victim does not claim the restitution within five years, the funds will go to support other trafficking victims through the Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Fund. The Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Fund, administered by the Office of Attorney General’s Victim Services Division provides funding for support, care, treatment and other services for victims of human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of a child. In Fiscal Year 2014, 20 grantees from the attorney general’s office located in 15 communities across Kansas reported serving 352 victims of human trafficking.

Human trafficking is the second-largest and the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. It is based on recruiting, harboring and transporting people solely for the purpose of exploitation.

The legislation approved yesterday by the Legislature, Senate Bill 113, was proposed by Attorney General Schmidt in February. It will now be presented to the governor for his consideration.

NEW YORK (AP) — Clint Eastwood will follow up on his box-office sensation “American Sniper” with a biopic of pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger.

Warner Bros. announced Tuesday that Eastwood will direct and produce the not-yet-titled drama as his next film. The film is to be adapted from Sullenberger’s 2009 memoir, which chronicled his personal history before he famously landed a plane in the Hudson River in New York in 2009.

It will be Eastwood’s first film after the biggest box-office hit of his career. The Oscar-winning “American Sniper” made $543.4 million globally for Warner Bros.

In a statement, Sullenberger says: “I am very glad my story is in the hands of gifted storyteller and filmmaker Clint Eastwood.”

The film will be produced by Frank Marshall and Allyn Stewart and penned by Todd Komarnicki.

By Mike Sherry

The University of Kansas Hospital is expanding a four-year-old relationship with Marillac, a youth behavioral health provider in Overland Park.

The hospital announced Thursday that, starting June 22, it will take over management of Marillac’s inpatient facility, which will operate as The University of Kansas Hospital – Marillac Campus.

Dennis McCulloch, a hospital spokesman, said the partnership began when KU Hospital closed its children’s psychiatric unit in 2011 and began referring patients to Marillac. KU physicians started providing care at Marillac, McCulloch said, in part to support their teaching mission as faculty at the KU School of Medicine.

The new partnership, he said, is focused more on clinical care. The arrangement should provide for better integration of medical care with the patients’ behavioral health needs, McCulloch said.

Under the new partnership, Marillac will continue to operate its outpatient and in-home services. Marillac, established in 1897, is part of the Cornerstones of Care, which includes Gillis, Ozanam, Spofford and Healthy Families Programs, a provider of child and family support programs in Northwest Missouri.

“As a health system, we are making a major commitment to our growth by expanding acute psychiatric services for youth and adolescents,” KU hospital CEO Bob Page said in a statement.

“We have seen a growing need in our community for behavioral health, and both our hospital and Marillac truly believe this partnership can help fill the gap in mental health disorders and maintain healthier communities in Kansas and Missouri.”

Mike Sherry is a reporter for Heartland Health Monitor, a news collaboration focusing on health issues and their impact in Missouri and Kansas.

MCPHERSON– The McPherson Police Department arrested a juvenile male Monday evening in connection with at least 26 cases involving damage to property or injury to McPherson residents.

The cases span the last twenty days and include damage caused by various street debris or BB gun rounds according to a media release.

Police say on Saturday, an 82-year-old male resident of McPherson reported being shot with a BB while mowing.

The BB was removed at the hospital.

On Monday, a 75-year old-male also from McPherson, reported a similar circumstance according to police. His injury did not require medical attention.

Current estimates for damages are in excess of ten thousand dollars.

Charges which include criminal damage and aggravated battery are pending for the arrested juvenile.

The report will be sent to the County Attorney for review of any additional charges.